Eloise Christy is a high-jumper, hurdler and sometimes middle distance runner. Her twin sister Adrienne focuses on long distance races during the track season, sometimes dropping down to middle distance events.
But the regional high school juniors have one major thing in common (besides being identical twins): school records.
Eloise holds the regional high school indoor record for the high jump at five feet-three inches. She set that last year, when the indoor track season was delayed and pushed outside due to Covid. This year, with a season best of five feet-one inch, she ranks among not only the best in the state, but the country.
Where Eloise takes to the air, Adrienne specializes on the ground. She holds the regional high school cross country record at 18:56. Her fastest mile thus far is 5:28.
The twins compete all year long, from cross country in the fall to the outdoor season in the spring. Currently, they are in the midst of the indoor track season, competing in a variety of races. And on a small team like the regional high school’s, it is a huge plus to have two athletes excel in so many areas.
“They cover almost all the events between the two of them,” track and cross country coach Joe Schroeder said in a phone call to the Gazette.
And of course there’s bound to be some overlap, like when Adrienne lines up against Eloise for the 600-meter run.
“She doesn’t usually do it,” Eloise said of her sister. “But the few times she does do it, it’s competitive.”
The Christy sisters grew up in a family of runners. Their parents, Todd and Jennifer Christy, ran in high school and collegiately, and their brother Dashiell, after seeing success at the regional high school, has moved on to collegiate running as well.
Adrienne and Eloise said they felt some (but not too much) encouragement from their parents to lace up a pair of running shoes.
“It was a little bit of a push, and then we did well,” Adrienne said.
The sisters started running with the Vineyard Hurricanes, a youth running group organized by Kim Kirk and Reann Steenkamp, and got their first taste of competition with middle school races off-Island, Mr. Christy said.
“I really credit those two with getting them excited about running,” Mr. Christy said.
Mr. Christy admits to being the family’s resident statistics geek, frequently checking online lists to see where the twins rank among their peers in the state and country. But Adrienne and Eloise, he said, are not phased by the numbers.
“They don’t even really look at it,” Mr. Christy said. “It’s kind of good in some ways.”
But that doesn’t mean they don’t notice how each other is doing.
“There’s always a little friendly competition and there’s always a lot of support,” Mr. Christy said.
When Eloise was injured for the cross country season in the fall, she stood on the sidelines to cheer Adrienne on. And at track meets when their parents can’t watch due to Covid, Adrienne sends her dad videos of Eloise high jumping.
As juniors in high school, the sisters said they’re only just beginning to think about college, filling out recruitment forms to send to coaches. Still, they have a few schools at the top of their lists. Eloise said she has her eye on Middlebury College and Brown, among others. Adrienne is looking into Stanford and Middlebury.
One thing they do know for sure is that track and field will be a big factor when it comes to making a college decision — and Division I programs are preferable.
“That would be great to be at a program like that,” Eloise said. “That would be crazy.”
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